Senior midfielder Harrison Archer, waiting to start practice Thursday, “is where we thought he’d be when he first came here,” says DU men’s lacrosse coach Bill Tierney. “I’m just really happy to be out there, to be able to play again,” Archer says.

Raised in Washington and schooled in lacrosse, Harrison Archer felt drawn to Colorado and to the University of Denver.

During his senior year in high school in 2009-10, before they became annual national-championship contenders, Archer chose the Pioneers the minute they showed interest in him.

“Almost immediately,” he said of how long it took him to say yes to DU and no to traditional lacrosse schools Cornell, Princeton and Georgetown, among others.

Archer’s parents were Colorado ski instructors before he was born. His mother, Cindy, worked in Breckenridge and his father, Tom, in Aspen, but the couple didn’t begin dating until returning to D.C., where they married.

“As I kid, I came out here all the time to go skiing,” Archer said, “and I always wanted to come back.”

He came back a year after legendary Princeton coach Bill Tierney came to DU, but struggled to find his footing in a program that was making huge strides with a handful of Canadians. He played sparingly as a freshman and sophomore before withstanding three left-wrist surgeries.

As a senior, the offensive midfielder was cleared to practice early this month and scored four goals last weekend in DU’s 15-9 and 14-3 victories over Marist and Canisius, respectively. The fourth-ranked Pioneers (3-1) visit No. 20 Penn (0-1) on Saturday.

“It’s a good story in that he’s finally playing well, feeling well,” Tierney said of Archer. “It’s been like two years of just one thing after another with this wrist, putting pins in, taking pins out. We’re just really happy for him. He had four goals last weekend, just played great. He is where we thought he’d be when he first came here.”

Archer had major wrist surgery Sept. 15, 2012 — 10 days after falling to the ground and hearing “a bunch of pops.”

“Pretty brutal break,” he said.

Archer chose not to redshirt and attempted to play late last season, which he did before breaking the wrist again and requiring surgery No. 2. This time, a screw was inserted for stabilization, and Archer was in a cast during DU’s second NCAA Final Four appearance in two years and most of the summer.

When fall ball began at the beginning of his senior year, Archer felt he was poised to have a big season. But his second surgery backfired, and the screw needed to be removed from his wrist.

“The screw backed itself out, with the screw head poking out of skin, and you could feel it,” he said. “It prevented me from moving my wrist to the left, and I couldn’t play lacrosse.”

The third surgery, in September, fixed the problem — and Archer is a big reason the Pioneers are again highly ranked and respected throughout the Eastern-dominated sport.

“It feels OK,” he said of the wrist. “I have some tendinitis issues and a ton of scar tissue built up. I’m still rehabbing every day, but I only have three months left playing here, so I’ve got a lot of time to rest it when I’m done.

“But it wasn’t that long ago when I was thinking, ‘I don’t know what to do about this.’ I just tried to focus on what I could do, what I could control. Right now I’m just really happy to be out there, to be able to play again.”

DU is flourishing behind a handful of newcomers, including starting attackmen Jack Bobzien, a sophomore transfer who starred at Arapahoe High School, and freshman Zach Miller.

“We’ve got some awesome new transfers like Jack Bobzien, and in my four years here this is the most close team we’ve had as far as relationships off the field go. I definitely think that’s going to help us in a big way,” Archer said.

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